1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coffee maker.
2. Description of Prior Art
In a conventional electric automatic-drip coffee maker, water is stored in a reservoir. When the coffee maker is turned ON, a heater is supplied with water from the reservoir and heats the water so that the water is fed up (effectively xe2x80x9cpumped upxe2x80x9d) to drip into coffee grounds in a filter basket, The filter basket is mounted above a carafe that collects the coffee. With this type of conventional heater for pumping the water, some water is stored in the system beyond the heater which is supplied initially to the filter basket and is not heated. Also, the overall temperature of coffee collected in the carafe is often not hot enough or does not remain hot enough for best results. In some cases, a thermal (more expensive) carafe is used to reduce this problem. It is supposed at present, a coffee maker should be able to brew hot coffee at at least 84 deg. C.
It is an object of the invention to overcome or at least reduce these problems.
According to the invention there is provided an electric automatic drip coffee maker including a water reservoir, an in-line electric water heater, a valved water passage between the reservoir and the water heater and an electrically operable controller for the valve, in which the electric controller is arranged to open the passage a predetermined time after the water heater is turned ON at the beginning of a coffee making cycle.
The coffee maker may include a second water passage, in which the water heater has two respective heating chambers, one for each of the passages, and in which a flow rate in the second channel is controlled to be at a slow rate so that the water is converted into steam in the heater for supply to a carafe of the coffee maker.
The valve is preferably arranged to simultaneously open the first and second passages.